Bandung, West Java. Indonesia wants to foster international cooperation based on equal and reciprocal partnership to tap opportunities and overcome challenges in the growing creative industry, an official said on Tuesday (05/12).

During a preparatory meeting in Bandung, West Java, for the inaugural World Conference on Creative Economy (WCCE) to be held in Bali next year, Indonesia’s Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) chief Triawan Munaf highlighted the importance of engaging multi-stakeholders in the creative economy sector.

"We believe it's time for global communities to take up and seriously discuss opportunities and challenges in the creative economy,” Triawan said in his opening remarks, read out by Bekraf deputy chief Ricky Pesik.

WCCE will take place next May in Bali, with around 1,500 participants expected to attend.

This week’s preparatory meeting is the first for the conference, which hopes to incorporate inclusivity and openness "to respond to the magnitude of challenges that confront the creative economy."

"Indonesia recognizes that the more basic and fundamental source of the economy is human creativity," Triawan said.

Indonesia is still faced with the challenging task of developing its human capital to exploit to the full creative economy's potentials.

Geographical divide to an extent has stopped being a problem, especially when internet and other emerging technologies have enabled talents from all around the world to collaborate.

The creative economy is in a unique position to act as a "catalyst for communication and understanding to improve economic and cultural relations," Triawan said.

Challenges for Indonesia include lack of awareness on intellectual property, inadequate technology infrastructure, lack of equal opportunities to enter the global market and lack of proper regulations and policies to sustain growth in this sector.

"These issues should be addressed through international cooperation based on equal partnership," Triawan said.

Participants of the Bandung meeting include government officials, international organizations, experts, the private sector and academics from 12 countries, including the United Kingdom and France.

Triawan said they wanted to create recommendations for a common agenda, especially for countries "that attribute great importance to creative economy."

The recommendations will be discussed at other multilateral meetings, including the World Economy Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next January, as part of an effort to "further the importance of creative economy at a global stage."

According to Bekraf, the economic value of the global creative industry has "surpassed even the petroleum industry" at around $2.2 trillion in 2012.

He hopes the conference next year can produce a joint declaration to be used as a cornerstone document in other international platforms, including the World Trade Organization and Group of 20.

Pesik said many of these platforms have yet to "formulate enough support for the creative industry."

Indonesia's foreign minister Retno Marsudi, whose speech for the meeting was delivered by her special advisor for economic diplomacy Ridwan Hassan, said WCCE can create a "momentum" to address and identify potentials and challenges in the creative economy.

"As an output, [it] should be able to provide common understanding and a platform for cooperation," Retno said.